Promoting the life and legacy of Rachel Carson, 5/27/1907 - 4/14/1964. Fostering a culture of Sentinel Lions who share Rachel's ethics and values. Working for sustained political and cultural change to prioritize public health.

12/30/12

Rachel Carson Book Discussion Group

January 20, 2 - 3:30 p.m.

12/23/12

Today’s Rachel Carson is a woman I know,
admire and love, Dr. Beverly Paigen. I was reminded of how important
Dr. Paigen is when asked to present her with an award from the Maine
Environmental Health Strategies Center.

When I began to think about what I would say about Dr. Paigen I
realized how groundbreaking her research was back in 1978 at Love Canal.
How when she presented her theories and her research findings around
the Love Canal chemicals and adverse health problems she was dismissed,
ridiculed, and harassed by those who wanted to silence her, just like
Rachel Carson.

Beverly demonstrated how the chemicals had likely moved out of the
dumpsite the Love Canal and into the homes that surrounded the site.
Again she was dismissed. Today, there is a name for this movement of
chemicals called vapor intrusion and there is even an EPA approved
technology to remove the chemicals from homes called vapor intrusion
mitigation technologies.

12/21/12

The Fracking of Rachel Carson

Silent Spring in an Age of Environmental Crisis

Korenman Lecture, Humanities Forum, Social Sciences ForumA
cancer survivor, Dr. Sandra Steingraber has written extensively on the
intersection of the environment and public health. She will discuss what
we have learned, and failed to learn, in the 50 years since Rachel
Carson’s publication of Silent Spring, and will examine the threat to public health that fracking poses.

Sandra Steingraber’s highly acclaimed book, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment
presents cancer as a human rights issue. Originally published in 1997,
it was the first to bring together data on toxic releases with data from
U.S. cancer registries and won praise from international media
including The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, The Lancet, and The London Times.

Sponsored
by the Department of Gender and Women Studies with support from the
Department of American Studies, the College of Arts, Humanities and
Social Sciences, the Dresher Center for the Humanities, Geography and
Environmental Systems, Office of the Provost, Social Sciences Forum, and
Women in Science and Engineering

Pest Prevention By Design Guidelines is a new free resource for designing buildings to be resistant to
common pests, such as rats, mice, pigeons and cockroaches. San
Francisco’s Integrated Pest Management Program initiated the project
after initial pesticide use reductions achieved by the program began to
level off. Program participants suspected poor design was a key barrier
to further reductions.

The
resource aims to compile the current body of knowledge about preventing
pest problems through building design and construction. Pest management
professionals, architects, engineers, researchers, educators, green
building experts, IPM consultants and public agency experts contributed.

The
project was funded by the US Centers for Disease Control, coordinated
by the Center for Environmental Health was contracted to coordinate the
project, and the guidelines were reviewed by the International Code
Council and a national, cross-sector team of experts.

To join or leave this listserv, visit the School IPM WWW site at
http://schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu/
and follow the instructions under "School IPM Listserv."

Jack
Caravanos, DrPH, CIH, Professor at the City University of New York
(CUNY) School of Public Health at Hunter College presented information
on how to effectively protect yourself when working in a moldy
environment. The webinar was held on December 11, 2012 from 10:00 –
11:00 a.m. EST. For more information, please contact Mitchel Rosen at mrosen@umdnj.edu. This program is sponsored by the Office of Public Health Practice at the UMDNJ-School of Public Health.

12/13/12

“If
I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the
christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in
the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last
throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and
disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things
artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.”

― Rachel Carson, ‘The Sense of Wonder’

The sun was surely burning my back; at
least it felt like it. I had on my new bikini top with a halter-top over
it. Yesterday had been the hottest day yet this year. The grass was
finally a healthy green and the dandelions were blooming. The land had
come alive with insects swarming over the grass in a cacophony of
inaudible background noise. Fairy-pink apple blossoms filtered down
through the branches and slanted into the grass, scenting the air. The
heavy humidity amplified the scent of rotting fruit issuing from the
chicken coop behind me. The smell coming in pungent waves broken up by
the recurring sweet odor of the apple blossoms.

Everything was such a bright shade in the sun. Being used
to the gray monotony of school and the inside of cars caused nature to
appear unnatural. It was a horrifying realization.

I looked more intently at my surroundings. In front of me were the
beehives, two of them, a creamy yellow color. Bees spilled out of the
open slat in the front, crawling over each other in a gentle frenzy.
They whizzed past my head like little torpedoes, missing me each time.
The ones coming back from the fields were laden with pollen, appearing
to have yellow saddlebags on their back legs.Read the complete essay at LINK

Aylee
Tudek is a 16-year old student at Mt. Abraham Union High School in
Bristol, VT. She writes: “Inspired by ‘Last Child in the Woods’ and
participating in a composition writing class, I wrote this piece
depicting watching the bee hives on my farm." She was "moved to share it
with those who may not yet have had the chance to find peace in
nature.”

Guests

Historians have said that the
beginning of the American environmental movement can be traced back to
the date, 50 years ago, when Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" was
published. The work shocked the public, led to the passage of the Clean
Water Act and the founding of the Environmental Protection Agency.

William Souder, author of "On a
Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson," will join The
Daily Circuit Monday, Dec. 10 to talk about Carson's landmark book.

"I think the message of 'Silent Spring' does still resonate," he said on The Diane Rehm Show
earlier this year. "I think people are more sensitive now to the idea
that we can contaminate the environment with chemicals. When Carson
wrote 'Silent Spring' this was really not an idea that had occurred to
people before. And that was one of the reasons that she drew such an
explicit link between chemical contamination and the contamination that
was then happening from nuclear testing around the world."

Linda Lear, author of "Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature," will also join the discussion.

This is the fourth and final look at one of the 88 titles on the Library of Congress' list of books that shaped America. We picked "Silent Spring" after listener requests.

12/7/12

What would Rachel Carson tweet? Take shelter from Saturday's rain at the
Rachel Carson Homestead in Springdale. The Allegheny Front's Jennifer
Szweda Jordan is leading a salon-style discussion on social media and
the environmental hero to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Silent
Spring. The Homestead will be open from noon to 5. Salon conversations
begin at 3. Event is free. Contact jennifer@alleghenyfront.org for more
information.
On http://alleghenyfront.org/index.html

12/6/12

Toxic Chemicals Found in Household Dust

Until now, having a little dust in the house was a harmless cue to
clean. But recent studies show that dust may be more ominous — it can
contain toxic chemicals that may have a negative impact on your health.

12/4/12

YORK, Maine — A consortium of York and regional
environmental groups have banded together to offer a yearlong look at
the legacy of scientist and environmental activist Rachel Carson, on the
50th anniversary of her book "Silent Spring."

This
Thursday evening, a live video conference will be offered at the York
Public Library of a panel discussion being held at the Portland Public
Library. Scientists and researchers from throughout the state will
explore the impacts and implications of "Silent Spring."

Published
in 1962, "Silent Spring" documented the detrimental effects of
pesticides on the environment, particularly birds. It has long been
credited with launching the modern environmental movement.

Carson
lived in Maine during part of her life, and the Rachel Carson National
Wildlife Refuge was established in 1966 along the coast between Kittery
and Cape Elizabeth.

The recent local focus on
Carson began with York Reads, a York group headed by York Public Library
Director Robert Waldman, which picks a book each year for the community
to read.

Waldman said when they were
discussing what book to chose for the 2012-13 year, which begins in the
fall, someone mentioned "Silent Spring."

"I
said it seems to me if we're going to do that, we have to get the
community involved," said Waldman. "Each person got in touch with
someone else and before you knew it, we had quite a significant group."

The
group now includes the Center for Wildlife, Cornerstones for Science,
the Mount Agamenticus Conservation Program, the Rachel Carson National
Wildlife Refuge, RiverRun Bookstore, White Pines Program, York Adult
Education, York School Department, York Art Association, Greater York
Chamber of Commerce, York Energy Efficiency Committee, York Land Trust,
the York Rivers Association, and Gateway to Maine: Outside.

• Dec. 6: Video conference at York Public Library about "Silent Spring." 7-9 p.m., "Silent Spring: 50
Years Later." The panelists will discuss the legacy of the book from
scientific, historical and literary approaches. Included will be marine
biologists, scientists and oceanographers.

12/3/12

What Are They, What Can They Do, and How Do We Know They're Out There? Joan Ruderman﻿,
Senior advisor to the Science Program, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced
Study, and president and director, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods
Hole.

In this week's Huffington, five HuffPost reporters give a detailed and unsparing account
of the man-made factors behind Hurricane Sandy's damage. John Rudolf,
Ben Hallman, Chris Kirkham, Saki Knafo and Matt Sledge not only tell the
story of the storm, but paint a damning picture of the shortcuts,
expedient decision-making and lack of preparation that allowed it to
inflict such suffering and devastation. "In the end," they write, "a
pell-mell, decades-long rush to throw up housing and businesses along
fragile and vulnerable coastlines trumped commonsense concerns about the
wisdom of placing hundreds of thousands of closely huddled people in
the path of potential cataclysms."

12/2/12

This year marks the 50 year anniversary for Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring.
The eponymous book that warned of the dangers of pesticides, a book
many say prompted the environmental movement, led to the banning of the
pesticide DDT a decade later.

What many people don’t realise is that today, 50 years after Silent Spring
was published, we are exposed to more toxic chemicals than ever before,
an estimated 8,000-12,000 chemicals continue to be introduced annually,
with no requirement that human toxicity or exposure data be provided
before the chemical is used.

“Like the constant dripping of water
that in turn wears away the hardest stone,” she wrote in her 1962 book,
“this birth-to-death contact with dangerous chemicals may in the end
prove disastrous.”